Can't unlock Taskbar, Can't Pin to Taskbar, odd folder on desktop.

[ziffel]

Hi, I am working on a laptop with Win 7 x64 Home Premium, SP1.

It was recently pretty badly infected, but has been thoroughly cleaned, and all additional bloatware uninstalled.

I am unable to unlock the taskbar, nor able to pin any shortcuts to it. There's also a strange folder that keeps appearing on the desktop, called %localappdata%, with a subfolder called 'elevatedDiagnostics'.

I enabled gpedit.msc. I have tried using the sevenforums supplied bat file to restore all Group Policies, to no avail. I searched inside of gpedit to the location that controls the locking of the taskbar, and it appears normal, as 'not configured', as are all the other entries under 'start menu and taskbar'.

I am trying to repair this without doing a full re-install of windows. I'd actually rather know *why* this is happening, and fix it manually.

thanks for any help!

 

[gregrocker]

It often isn't enough to clean up a badly infected PC so I would strongly consider doing a Clean Reinstall Windows 7 especially if this is factory-installed Win7 which is the worst install of Win7 one can have anyway.

Otherwise run a full scan with Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware followed by SFC /SCANNOW Command.

 

[jumanji]

As greg suggests a clean install will get you to a pristine Windows 7.

If for any reason you would like to keep it as a last option, then again MBAM, SuperAntiSpyware , SFC/Scan now may be an option.

You may also try a one-shot program Windows Repair all-in-one by Tweaking.com Windows Repair (All In One)

Download the Windows version or the portable version from reputed servers shown therein and not the cheater downloads on top.

You can also download from bleeping computers. Windows Repair (All In One) Download



Please perform a cleanboot before you try to restore the Windows settings by running this program. ( You may also create a System Restore point before running this program)